Azernews.Az

Akbar Novruz

Read more

At the COP29 opening ceremony, Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources and Designated-President outlined the Presidency’s priorities for this critical climate summit. His speech focused on two core goals: advancing climate finance and establishing high-integrity carbon markets, Azernews reports.

A key expectation from COP29 is to reach a fair and ambitious agreement on the New Collective Quantified Climate Finance (NCQG), which Babayev highlighted as a top priority for the Presidency. He emphasized the urgent need for climate finance to match the scale and urgency of the global climate crisis. "We know the needs are trillions of dollars, but the public sector can only mobilize a fraction of that. We must resolve differences on contributors and set new financial goals," Babayev said.

He pointed out that effective climate finance must prioritize the needs of developing countries, addressing their most pressing challenges, including disaster recovery and capacity building. “The finance we seek must be adequate, transparent, and address the priorities of developing nations,” he stated.

In addition to finance, Babayev stressed the importance of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which deals with carbon markets. "Article 6 is long overdue," he declared, emphasizing that carbon markets, when implemented with high integrity, could reduce the cost of meeting climate targets by $250 billion annually. This, he argued, is essential for ensuring that global climate policies are both affordable and effective.

Babayev also called for significant progress on the loss and damage fund, urging parties to move from pledges to tangible contributions to support the most vulnerable communities. He underlined that addressing loss and damage is not just a financial issue, but one that involves the rapid transfer and deployment of life-saving technologies.

"This is a historic moment to take decisive action," Babayev concluded, urging all nations to come together to address the climate crisis with ambition, urgency, and solidarity. "We must act now to secure a sustainable future for all."